Union budget 2024: Hefty pension bill, modest outlay hike for armed forces

There was no big bang for the armed forces despite the ever-growing threat from China and Pakistan, with the defence outlay registering a meagre 4.8% hike over the previous fiscal’s budgetary estimates, and going into the negative if revised estimates are taken into account. The defence budget was pegged at Rs 6.2 lakh crore, virtually the same as in the interim budget in Feb.
Capital expenditure of Rs 1.7 lakh crore for military modernisation registered a 5.8% hike over last year’s bud getary estimates and 9.4% over the revised ones. But the capital outlay was dwarfed by the revenue outlay of Rs 2.8 lakh crore for day-to-day operating costs and salaries of the over 14-lakh strong armed forces and defence civilians. Of it, Rs 92,088 crore is for operational sustenance and military readiness.
The overall defence allocation works out to just 1.9% of the projected GDP if the huge defence pension allocation of Rs 1.4 lakh crore for the 32 lakh ex-servicemen and retired defence civilians is considered. It drops to less than 1.5% if the pension bill is excluded. This, when experts say at least 2.5% is needed for deterrence against China and Pakistan. But defence minister Rajnath Singh said allocation was 12.9% of total Budget for 2024-25, the highest for any ministry.